By James Donahue

Keeping a pet rabbit that is free to roam around the house is not often heard of. But one Australian couple had such a pet in July, 2008, and it was credited with saving their lives.

The bunny, which simply goes by the name Rabbit, woke Gerry and Michelle Finn by scratching on their bedroom door after their home in Melbourne caught fire during the early morning hours.

The Finns said Rabbit got them awake in the nick of time. They found the house filled with smoke and the rear portion of the structure already ablaze.

Fire fighters arrived at around 6 a.m. to extinguish the fire, but not before it caused extensive damage.

The Finns and Rabbit escaped without injury.

Michelle said she and her husband had been renovating the home for two years prior to the fire. The saw their work go up in smoke that morning.

But after saving their lives, it seems that Rabbit won a permanent place in their home no matter where they live.

It may be of interest to know that the Finns are part of a growing number of people around the world now keeping pet rabbits in their home. It seems they make very gentle, furry pets and can be litter box trained, much like a cat.

The negative aspects of having a pet rabbit in the house is that they don’t generally like to be handled, they eat a lot of greens and pet food, and they chew on things that include furniture, curtains and electric wires.

And that makes us wonder if the Finn’s Rabbit wasn’t chewing on a hot wire that sparked. Could it have been that this bunny caused the fire that put him in the position of being declared a hero?

We do not encourage owning pet rabbits and keeping them in the house, no matter how cute they appear to be.